Alberto had a rather good impression of Lind. After several exchanges of letters, he even felt that the other party was of the same kind as himself.
So, knowing that their future plans conflicted with each other, Alberto was still willing to communicate the reasons with Lind. The two had even divided Cape in their letters.
What Lind said about things not going smoothly also included the central region of the royal capital and the eastern border. The variable here was actually Alberto.
However, in his latest reply, Lind mocked Alberto, ridiculing him for attacking the height of others despite being a ruler himself, showing no grace whatsoever.
But after skipping this part, Lind returned to normal and continued to negotiate terms with Alberto, pulling and pushing.
This made Alberto feel like he could only swallow his anger, being inexplicably criticized, yet unable to find any rebuttal.
What he had previously said seemed indeed a bit excessive, but there was no way he would apologize. Alberto rubbed his nose and chose to ignore it.
Along with this reply, there was also much information from Cape Royal Capital. After the Cape Queen met with the Northern Border Governor, it seemed that everything had changed. The Cape Queen had regained much of her power; previously, she had been limping along, but now she was starting to act like a true monarch.
Especially the Northern Border’s support for Cape Royal Capital contradicted the plans Lind had mentioned in his letters to Alberto. It seemed that the Northern Border Governor no longer wanted to balance the situation in the royal capital, but instead turned to support the Cape Queen.
Alberto’s first reaction was that the Cape Queen had once again wielded her strange charm, enchanting the Northern Border Governor. However, after thinking it over, Alberto shook his head. Not to mention that the Northern Border Governor was already married and had a harmonious relationship with his spouse, the tone on that reply made Alberto feel more like it was an old friend covering for a shortcoming.
Although he was very curious about the nature of their relationship, Alberto only instructed Cassius to investigate the Northern Border and the royal capital along the way, without thinking much of it. After all, even if the other party’s attitude towards the royal capital did not change, they would still provide assistance to the southwestern border, ensuring that An Zhu could not easily take the southwestern border of Cape.
Alberto and Lind enjoyed their correspondence, but the strategic competition between the two had never stopped, and Alberto knew that the other party’s aim was the entire territory of Cape, and probably even more than that, so he had already made preparations.
However, Alberto still underestimated those weapons and equipment. Rather than saying they were firearms, it would be more accurate to say that firearms were merely the manifestation of those weapons—essentially they were magic projectile launchers.
With ray guns, melting weapons, and magic artillery support, An Zhu’s advance was once again stalled. It was obvious that the southwestern army was still not familiar with the operation of these weapons and equipment. Alberto had even thought of more ways for the other side, but of course the southwestern army of Cape was acting cowardly. Even if they obtained new weapons and equipment, they still refused to engage in offensive operations and merely cowered in a defensive posture.
After Judith left, the morale of the southwestern army had been completely worn down by An Zhu, and they dared not engage in field battles.
Yet even such a demoralized group of soldiers could still firmly occupy those castle fortresses with their weapons in hand.
In the end, Alberto, envious, issued an order that at a great cost secured a unit of the southwestern army equipped with new weapons.
Thinking about this, Alberto mustered the courage to glance at the report on the table. The casualty figures were indeed gruesome, and many nobles had submitted letters opposing Alberto’s reckless attacks.
Alberto quickly covered the report again; the casualty numbers were indeed exaggerated, far exceeding his original estimates, to the point where he had to prepare himself mentally each time he opened the report to confirm the figures.
But regardless, An Zhu had finally acquired a batch of new equipment from the Northern Border of Cape.
Alberto looked at the ray gun that had been confiscated on the table, closed his eyes for a moment, and took a brief rest.
When Cassius reported, Alberto left the room with the ray gun and arrived at the hall of An Zhu Royal Palace.
Though somewhat disdainful of what was currently Cape Royal Capital, Alberto thought that the system where the Cape Royal Capital called nobles for meetings every few days was quite good. It was just that the nobles in An Zhu were busier and found it difficult to gather like those in Cape.
Unlike the main hall of Cape, the throne in An Zhu was placed very high. Although Cape had set up a round table conference to indicate that all nobles were at least equal during meetings, An Zhu did not favor this system. The king’s power was absolute, even if that power could bring bloody storms.
Recently, however, Alberto’s attitude had softened quite a bit. After the scholars from the An Zhu Magic Association bowed, Cassius kindly offered the elderly scholar with gray hair a chair.
After the old scholar sat down, he looked up at Alberto and said, “Your Majesty, regarding the new weapons from the Northern Border of Cape, the Magic Tower has completed the analysis.”
“Can it be reproduced?”
Although he tried to keep his expression calm, Alberto’s tone was still filled with anticipation.
However, the old scholar continued to ramble on, “It’s quite incredible. The person who designed these magic arrays is simply a genius. No, it might not have been designed; the arrangement is so intricate that it’s very likely calculated.”
“If magic arrays can be calculated, doesn’t that mean they and runes can be digitized? If magic arrays and runes can be digitized…”
Then followed a series of obscure and difficult terms. Alberto only understood roughly and finally waved his hand helplessly to ask, “So, can it be reproduced?”
Only then did the old scholar react, saying, “Your Majesty, to be honest, according to the magic arrays on these ray guns, it wouldn’t be difficult to reproduce one. Just like the previous firearms, you can invite rune masters and alchemists to replicate it. Although each person’s quality may vary, a ray gun or melting sword with the same functionality can be made.”
“But the real difficulty lies in the principles of these magic arrays. These arrays have their own logic, and understanding these logical principles will take some time.”
Alberto knew that reverse engineering was not an easy task, but as long as they could replicate an An Zhu version like the firearms, it would be enough.
But the old scholar continued, “There’s also the charging of these weapons…”
Noticing the hesitance in the old scholar’s voice, Alberto comforted him, “If there are any problems, feel free to speak.”
The old scholar nodded and said, “Your Majesty, the charging method is definitely not as simple as using magic stones; otherwise, the efficiency would be insufficient. If all charging were done using magic stones, the consumption would be unimaginable. Although these weapons have charging interfaces, inferring their charging system from a single interface…”
Alberto understood. This request was indeed quite unreasonable.
Through Lind’s letters, Alberto also knew that the charging relied on what was called an obelisk, but the price of the obelisk was not cheap. Even though Alberto’s current authority in An Zhu was quite formidable, he couldn’t afford to pay the full amount all at once.
“I understand. I will find a way for this matter. Right now, we don’t have to be constrained by their system. While we can try to decipher their charging system, we can also find our own methods to charge these weapons. Funding should not be a concern.”
Although Alberto said that funding was not a problem, there wasn’t much excitement on the old scholar’s face. He quietly said, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Alberto then took out the letter from Lind that he carried with him. Although it felt somewhat strange to carry a letter written to him by a man, Alberto carefully read the conditions Lind had provided.
What worried Alberto the most was that the obelisk in the royal capital of Cape was already in preparation. Although he knew that even if it were ultimately constructed, that obelisk would likely be controlled by the Northern Border, with the royal capital of Cape merely holding the usage rights, it still advanced them significantly ahead of An Zhu.
In this world, not making progress was a form of regression. Alberto had no way out; as a king, he had to start finding ways.
